The Wedding Party
by Li Ying Fa
Summary: One-shot written for the Shitennou Forums 2008 ficathon. A heatwave leads to a blackout on the eve of the Tsukino/Chiba engagement party. The maid of honour gets up close and personal with the members of the Wedding Party. Will be revised.


Ficathon 2008 Entry #2

Theme: Group Interaction

Author: Li Ying Fa

The Wedding Party

Osaka Naru was in hell. Pure, unadulterated, bridesmaid hell. It was one thing to deal with a Bridezilla, particularly when you had been friends with said bride since kindergarten; but it was quite another to deal with her other friends, the ones you aren't even sure you like all that well. It all started out innocently enough...

_Six hours ago..._

"Hold the door please," a masculine voice called out.

Naru looked around the half-full elevator and pressed the "Door Open" button firmly. Even with all four of Usagi's bridesmaids, Motoki, the best man, herself (the maid of honour) and all their assorted stuff, there was still plenty of room in the spacious glass elevator that ran up the side of the new Starlight Tower. "Thanks," the same voice said as a hand reached out to hold the door open. The hand was followed up by what Naru could only describe as pure, masculine sexiness. The owner of the voice was tall, broad-shouldered and had silvery-blonde hair cropped close to his head. He was followed by three other prime specimens of the male gender.

Her musings were interrupted by a growl from behind her. "Great. Abso-fricking-lutely fantastic," Rei Hino hissed, sarcasm dripping from every word, "Not only are we late for the engagement party, now we have to be in the same elevator as _them._"

The blonde that had just entered gave Rei a sardonic grin. "Don't worry sweetheart," he said dryly, "It's only for thirty-four floors and we're not exactly jumping up and down here either."

'_This isn't looking good,'_ Naru thought to herself. As though agreeing with her, the elevator doors slid closed with ominous finality.

The tension and hostility in the suddenly crowded lift was palpable. Even the normally friendly Ami had distress written all over her face. The gentlemen, for the most part, kept their expressions neutral, aside from the two blondes. One who had a mischievous expression on his face, and the other a look of disdain.

Clearing her throat, she attempted to ease the tension as the car began its' vertical ascent. "I don't believe we've met," she said, making a deliberate at cheerfulness, "I'm Osaka Naru, I'm Usagi's maid of honour."

The white haired man gave her a smooth smile, "I'm Shiroi Kazuki. I'm one of Mamoru's groomsmen."

"You're what?" Minako Aino, who had been silently glaring at him until now, shouted.

"We're all his groomsmen," the blonde with curly hair that went down to his shoulders replied. Turning back to Naru he added, "Sakurano Shizuya."

The second blonde swept Naru's hand into his own and planted a light kiss on the back, "Takashima Jin. A pleasure."

The final gentleman gave the blonde a light swat, "Ignore him. The rest of us do. I'm Hoshino Niko."

Makoto snorted quietly. "Do you find something amusing?" Niko asked, giving the brunette an assessing look.

"As a matter of fact, I do," she challenged, "I find it amusing and surprising that any of you know how to act like gentlemen."

"Mako," Ami interceded, "That's taking it a little far."

"She's right Ami," Rei bristled, "They've shown us no courtesy, yet they do manage to get by with others."

"Oh, I could show you a lot of things," Shizuya bit out, "For starters..."

"Enough," Kazuki commanded.

"Why don't you stay on your side of the elevator and we'll stay on ours," Minako said, her tone deceptively mild, "The same goes for the engagement party. The last thing we want is for Usa to be upset."

"Or Mamoru," Kazuki added.

Reprimanded, both groups retreated to opposing sides of the car. In the middle, Naru and Motoki breathed twin sighs of relief. However, their relief was short-lived as the elevator car gave a sudden lurch and then stopped moving. The interior lights flickered, then died out, engulfing them in darkness.

"What the?"

"Who's elbow was that?"

"It's not just us, look outside, half the city is dark."

As Naru's eyes adjusted to the moonlight that dimly lit the elevator car, she looked as directed and saw that indeed, half the lights of the city of Tokyo were dark. "It's this heatwave," Ami stated calmly, "The transformers must have been at their limit, causing this blackout."

"No, no, no, no..."

Everyone turned to see Motoki hunched close to the floor, rocking on his heels as he continued to repeat "No."

"What's wrong with you?" Niko asked.

"Motoki's afraid of heights," Minako supplied, "And he's not too fond of enclosed space either."

"Then what the hell is he doing on a glass elevator?" Shizuya yelled, annoyed with Motoki's antics.

"Rei...ordered me..." Motoki said quietly, not stopping his rocking.

"She ordered you?" Jin's voice was incredulous, "And you followed her orders? What kind of man are you?"

"To be fair to him," Ami answered, her tone frosty, "Rei did say to him: 'I don't care if you're afraid of heights. We're late, Usagi's expecting us and you will get your ass on this elevator if I have to knock you out and drag you on myself.'"

The men stared at Rei with shock, fear, and a tiny glimmer of respect. Before she had a chance to bite their heads off though, the car was suddenly filled with a blaring version of "C'est La Vie."

"Sorry," Minako giggled, "That's me."

Taking out her sparkly pink cellphone, she flipped it open and was immediately assailed with loud sobs. "Where are all of you?" Usagi's voice could be heard, even without Minako switching it to speakerphone, "It's dark, and you aren't here and my engagement party is ruuiiiinnned."

"Usako, calm down," came Mamoru's voice, "They won't be able to understand you if you get hysterical."

"We're all right Usagi," Minako said, as soothingly as she could, "We're here, but we're trapped in the elevator between the twentieth and twenty-first floors."

"Can't you get out?" she wailed, "I need you heeeeerrrrrreeeee."

Ami took the phone out of Minako's hands. "Usagi," she said softly, "We're _all_ here. Naru, Motoki, and _those gentlemen_."

"But, but," Usagi began. Mamoru's voice cut in, "They'll be fine Usako. You guys hang tight. I'm sure they'll get you out of there soon. I'll inform the building manager that you're trapped there. Just...don't kill each other before they let you out, understood?"

"Understood," Kazuki said grimly.

"Understood," Minako said as well, giving each of the women a level glance before flipping her phone closed.

"What was that all about?" Naru questioned.

"Nothing to worry about," Minako replied shortly, "Isn't there usually an escape hatch on one of these things?"

"Minako," Rei said slowly, "We're on the outside of the building, remember? You wanted to see the view as we went up?"

"There's still a frame."

"A _frame_," Makoto stressed, "Not a shaft. Nothing that would keep you from plunging hundreds of feet to your death if you made a misstep."

Motoki whimpered from his position on the floor, as far from the glass windows as he could manage. "I wouldn't misstep," she said confidently, "Besides there's always _that_."

Kazuki cut into the women's conversation, "_That_ is not an option, remember?"

He sent a pointed glance in Naru and Motoki's direction. Minako followed his eyeline and shrugged, "So I better watch my step then, right? Give me a boost?"

"No." Kazuki said, leaving no room to argue.

"For once I agree with stoneface here," Rei added, "You are not going to risk your neck. We're going to wait here as Mamoru _suggested_."

"So you can follow orders," Jin remarked, an odd glint in his eye.

Rei whirled and advanced on him, backing him into the corner. "I follow orders only when someone qualified gives them. Something you will never be."

This sparked off a quiet bickering match between the two of them that the rest of the elevator car chose to ignore as this was nothing new. Ami moved closer to Motoki to check on him. "Is he going to be okay?" Niko asked the bluenette as he pushed his own brown waves out of his eyes. "He just needs to calm down," Ami replied, glancing at Minako.

Minako, catching Ami's unspoken message, broke off from pondering the ceiling hatch under Kazuki's watchful eyes and headed over. Realizing what was needed, she placed a hand on Motoki's shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Immediately, the anxiety that was clear in every motion bled away and Motoki relaxed against the interior wall. Niko, surprised, looked up and saw Kazuki also watching this scene, with...pride...in his eyes? Motoki muttered something unintelligible. "What was that?" Minako asked gently.

"It's hot in here," he repeated louder.

"He's right," Shizuya offered from where he was leaning. "With the AC out and the heatwave what it is, we're basically going to cook in this glass elevator."

Minako's mind was racing as she went through different scenarios. "Ami, Rei," she barked out.

Ami nodded, understanding what her leader wanted. Rei was still heatedly arguing with Jin in the corner. "Rei, focus," she repeated, her voice firm.

This grabbed the dark-haired woman's attention and she turned from Jin, missing the grin he had on his face. "What Mina? Jeez!"

"Rei," she continued in the same tone, "_Don't you think it's getting hot in here?"_

For a moment, Rei stared at Minako, uncomprehending. Then understanding dawned and she gave her a nod before jumping enthusiastically back into her argument with Jin. Niko sidled over to Kazuki and whispered, 'What do you suppose that was about?'

Kazuki leaned closer before responding, 'I'm only guessing, but I'm thinking that Aino is having Mizuno and Hino regulate the temperature in here by having Hino draw the heat into herself while Mizuno cools the air."

"They can do that?" Niko asked, louder than he intended to.

Minako gave him a suspicious look before returning to her perusal of the ceiling hatch.

'Yes they can,' Kazuki hissed, 'Keep your voice down. If you lot had been paying attention when the Prince briefed us, you'd know that their powers have evolved from when we knew them. Their strength and control is far beyond what it was in the past.'

'So you better not piss us off,' Makoto whispered, having come up behind the two and listened in on what they had been talking about.

"Is that a threat Miss Kino?" Niko asked indignantly.

"No threat," Makoto replied, her voice sugary sweet, "I'm just offering some good advice."

Kazuki rolled his eyes as these two now began their own argument. Looking around, he spotted Shizuya needling Mizuno as she tried to furtively work on her tiny computer, Jin and Hino still going strong and Minako still staring at the grate. Deciding he had had enough of her, he stomped over, determined to keep her from going up the hatch, even if he had to pin her down himself.

_Six hours (or so)..._

Naru wanted to beat her head against the elevator wall. She wanted to know who had decided that they weren't a priority because if she was in this elevator any longer, Mamoru wouldn't have to worry about his friends killing each other because she would have murdered them all. Shizuya and Ami were well and good, but the two of them had spent the last six hours hunched over some device spouting technical mumbo-jumbo that Naru didn't understand and frankly, didn't want to know about. Niko and Makoto had gotten into a few physical spats, making the sparse space in the elevator car even smaller. Kazuki had finally pinned Minako to the floor after she attempted to scale the wall of the car and get to escape hatch. Rei and Jin were possibly the worst though, since at one point during their argument, they apparently decided that they didn't hate each other and had been making out in their corner for the past, oh, around two hours. As the final straw, Motoki had fallen asleep and was now drooling on the shoulder of the emerald silk dress that she had carefully selected and saved up for, specifically for Usagi's engagement party. Yup, Osaka Naru was in Bridesmaid Hell and she had had enough.

"WOULD YOU ALL STOP ACTING LIKE A GROUP OF CHILDREN," she yelled, "I AM TIRED, I AM DROOLED ON, AND I AM SICK OF ALL OF YOU. WOULD YOU JUST TRANSFORM AND GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE WITH YOUR FRAKKING MAGIC?"

"Ummm," Shizuya said hesitantly, "Miss Osaka? You know?"  
"OF COURSE I KNOW. WHAT KIND OF IDIOT DO YOU ALL TAKE ME FOR? USAGI'S BEEN MY BEST FRIEND FOR TWENTY YEARS AND THE SAILOR SENSHI HAVE ONLY SAVED MY ASS A MILLION TIMES. NOW GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

"Yes Ma'am"

In a flurry of transformation phrases, the glass elevator of the new Starlight Tower was emptied; as the confused rescue workers discovered not five minutes later.

**THE END**


End file.
